Latest Gear Live Videos

Those in Japan waiting for the big one can breathe a semi-sigh of relief. NTT has established an Urgent Earthquake Bulletin service that opens an alert window automatically on their PCs in case of a pending disaster. An alarm goes off and an estimated seismic intensity is displayed as well as arrival time. A standalone Flash FLET’S Type is also available from NTT. It has flashing LED lights and an audible alarm, arrival time and countdown. NTT claims that their service is more precise and up to date than others available.

Advertisement

The Federal regulatory powers that be have approved of creating an emergency alert system with texting delivered to cellies. There will be three types of messages. One is a national presidential alert in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. A second would be an “imminent threat, ” such as a tornado or university sniper, and the last would be used for Amber Alerts. Each would have an audio sound associated with it. The FCC free service will be voluntary and is expected to be up and running by 2010.

The Alex Garland/Danny Boyle team is back with another harrowing look at humanity, it’s need for hope and willingness to sacrifice, both on a grand scale and within each of us.

The year is 2057. The sun, the source of all life on Earth, is dying. A spaceship called Icarus II is 60 million miles from the world, en route with a crew of eight scientists, physicists, and astronauts to set off a type of nuclear bomb in hopes of reigniting the dwindling star. This group of experts represent the last hope for Earth and all of mankind, and their mission, like that of the first Icarus journey, is based on theoretical science in the face of unknown conditions — mere miles from the surface of the sun.

Visually stunning and intense beyond imagination, Sunshine reminds everyone of the insignificance humanity represents on a grand scale, while simultaneously inspiring us to fight for it.

You can’t blame Sony’s Phil Harrison - after talking up the PS3 so much and promising console numbers and release dates that never materialized, he’s got to start being a little more cautious. But I think his current statements shed some light on just how dire Sony’s production problems are:

Appearing in this month’s official Playstation magazine, Harrison states:

On asking if the PS3 will definitely be out in March in Europe…

“Given that all of our previous statements about launching in Europe simultaneously with the US and Japan turned out not to be the case, I would not like to make any definitive statements on that. It’s not my job to comment on hardware supply issues other than to say some very smart people are working very hard to catch up. In fact, the ramp up is already starting to happen in supply and output, just obviously too late for us to have launched in Europe at the same times as the US.”

So Sony, what you’re telling us is that Sony might not even meet its thrice-delayed launch date in Europe?? Can you tell us anything definitive about the European console? Is it ever going to make it to Europe? From our ends, it sounds like you’re just barely making your production quotas and hedging your bets. Please, tell us we’re wrong.